It was opportune for Fran Kirby’s growing attack in the upper corner to break the determination of a resilient Northern Irish defense. The Chelsea striker has been in magical form for England during the group stage of the European Championship, the creative center of the midfield, and his goal was to follow a typically disinterested move to set up Georgia Stanway when perhaps he should have. fired.
Kirby’s goal opened the door for the Lions to win, beating Northern Ireland 5-0 in their last Group A match to maintain a perfect start to their European Championship campaign.
England’s good run through the group stage had a small kick-off with the announcement earlier that day that their coach, Sarina Wiegman, had tested positive for Covid and would remain at the base of the team in west London.
The assistant of the 52-year-old player, Arjan Veurink, who joined from the Netherlands with her, led the team to St Mary’s. Before the match began, she said the impact would be minimal, that Wiegman “was fine” and that she would be in contact with him and the rest of the staff during the match. “She’s not here, but she will be there,” he said.
If there was ever a right time for England to lose their coach, maybe this was it. There was nothing about the momentum bar boost and given the five-day difference between the group’s last game and the team’s quarter-finals in Brighton, the impact will likely be minimal.
With England leading the group and Northern Ireland having already confirmed their departure from their first major international tournament, there was an atmosphere of celebration in Southampton, which the contingent bounce of green fans was looking forward to seeing punctured to reach the start.
Many expected a high-scoring match. England have played three times against Northern Ireland in the last 18 months, and the Euro hosts have won 6-0, 4-0 and 5-0.
However, he was always unlikely to have a margin as large as England’s 8-0 win on Monday night against Norway. Northern Ireland, who are the lowest team in the competition at 47, know that attack is not their best form of defense and they have put their bodies in front of the ball.
Fran Kirby scores the first goal for St Mary’s. Photography: John Sibley / Reuters
It worked, and there was even a chance for the Euro Cup scorers to score in the first minute, when Lauren Wade forced Mary Earps to stop.
From the second minute onwards the traffic was one-way, with England enjoying the vast majority of possession and completing just 239 passes to Northern Ireland’s 40 in the first half.
It was inevitable, then, that the goals would come. After knocking on the door, including refusing a penalty after a VAR review ruled that Beth Mead had handled Laura Rafferty’s handball, England finally broke the deadlock in the 41st minute. Moments after Kirby had disinterested in Georgia Stanway just for the Northern Ireland players to block the shot, Kirby grabbed a loose ball out of the area and threw it into the top corner.
Northern Ireland coach Kenny Shiels was forced to apologize for blaming women for being “more emotional than men” after his team had yielded twice in a row in the 5- to 5-game losing streak. 0 against England in April. He faced a similar scenario here, with Mead doubling England’s lead in three minutes when he picked up an expense before cutting Rebecca McKenna, changing left foot and shooting low in front of goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns.
Player Profile Alessia Russo, England.
The whistle in the middle was a small respite. Wiegman had said the momentum was most important to her at the pre-match press conference and insisted she would not rest her legs. As a result, England’s starting eleven remained the same. At the break, though, the narrative had changed, with Alessia Russo playing Ellen White, Ella Toone replacing Stanway and Alex Greenwood instead of Millie Bright.
Three minutes after the restart, Russo added a third for England, sending a Mead cross with a header. He had a second shortly after. Demonstrating that she is as good with her feet as with her head, the forward picked up Toone’s direct ball and turned with a touch before firing ahead of Burns for his seventh goal in 10 games.
The fifth was cruel, with substitute defender Kelsie Burrows looping a ball over Burns with his foot outstretched, but there was no release for Northern Ireland with England applying pressure with the same intensity he had to the first part.
England have a four-day break before playing again against Group B runners-up, who are likely to be Spain or Denmark, and come in with 14 goals scored, three goals on goal and the support of a nation that is waking up. quickly with its bottle shape on the domestic floor. Sheils said it better himself, before the game: “I can say it now that we’re out, but them [England] I could go on and win the tournament, I think most people feel that way. “